Welcome to Spend Donate Invest! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja and I’m your host as we explore the topic of how we can align our values, our beliefs, our politics, and what we do with our money on a daily basis.
What a year! The podcast turned 2 years old and crossed the 100 episode mark. A two part episode was featured on another podcast’s feed and I was even able to take a week to attend a conference where I connected with other people in media who are thinking about similar topics.
Last year you all seemed to enjoy an end of year report on which episodes were the most popular, so I figured let’s do it again this year. Why not? LoL.
If you’re new to the show, consider this your list of where to start.
Most popular episode of 2023 was…
- Episode 64 Giving after a natural disaster
- Episode 65 Celebrating Black philanthropy
- Episode 66 Supporting the Arts
- Episode 67 Did Patagonia’s founder really give his company away?
- Episode 97 When Trust Fund Kids grow up
- Episode 68 Is a donation a good gift?
- Episode 94 Why the Rich don’t give
- Episode 20 Where to start with donating
- Episode 85 Where does President Barack Obama donate his money?
- Episode 58 Decolonizing our Thanksgiving plates
Your questions this year were about how we can start a company that aligns with our values, how to raise generous kids, and what we should be reading right now, among other questions.
Remember, you can always submit your questions to be considered for a future episode, just send me an email. And I will respond.
So let’s wrap up with a few predictions for 2024. To make things easier, I’m going to stick to the three buckets: spend, donate, and invest.
Spend: I think that electric vehicles and to a much smaller degree residential solar panels are going to lead the discussion on sustainable shopping in 2024. And that is a difference from past years where the discussion was more on sustainable fashion and also sustainable food and drink. I think we’re going to get more information about the tradeoffs in sustainability when we buy these electric vehicles or green our homes using products like solar panels.
Donate: I think that Americans may donate a little less in 2024 as there continues to be some uncertainty in the economy. And I predict that this may put a little bit more of a spotlight on the very wealthy in this country and we will see bigger donation announcements from them. I saw that MacKenzie Scott recently dropped another set of donations, I think we will hear more about her giving along with Melinda French Gates’ giving in 2024. I think this might be the year that Jeff Bezos finally starts a meaningful foundation of some sort.
Invest: I think that the topic of sustainable investing or impact investing will continue to grow in popularity in 2024. I think that the big financial institutions are going to be tripping over themselves to create more investment products for us so that we can feel more aligned with our retirement accounts. I think greenwashing will be on the rise and impact-washing in general. So I think that will be a great topic to discuss here on the show so we can be vigilant.
And then some predictions for this show. Well first thing, the podcast is going to be undergoing a rebranding. So stay tuned for that. New name, new website, new email address, new twitter handle.
As that is in the works, I’d love to hear your wishlist for next year. What topics do you want to hear? How else can this podcast be more helpful? One thing I’ve been thinking about is some sort of a book club for the listeners of this show. I have gotten positive feedback from you all about the books that have been mentioned on the show in the past. Let me know what you think about a bookclub.
In 2024, I would love for this podcast to become self-sustaining. As of now, it is self funded through work that I continue to do in the private sector. As you can imagine, it is very important to me that any money that the show brings in makes sense and aligns with the values that you and I talk about all the time here. If you have any ideas for potential sponsors of the show, please let me know.
And for those of you I met in person this year, thank you so much for all of the love. Podcasting isn’t like youtubing or social media-ing, there isn’t much feedback unless you the listener make an extra effort to send an email or write a review or say hello when I’m out and about. So thank you for letting me know you’re out there and how the show is resonating with you. I really enjoyed meeting some of you, it was one of the highlights of the year for me.
So that’s it! Most popular episodes from 2023 and some predictions and hopes and dreams for 2024.
If you want to get in touch, you know where to go. The website is spend donate invest dot world. The email address is spend donate invest at gmail dot com.
That’s all for today, have a good one and Let’s talk again soon!